Day 8 – Baileys Pastry Mince Pies

On the eighth day of Christmas The Pink Whisk sent to me…..Baileys Pastry Mince Pies – oh yes indeed!

I didn’t think you could beat mince pies made with zesty pastry (recipe here) turns out you can – with Baileys Pastry! Oh why didn’t I think of you before!

Makes 12 Mince Pies

Ingredients:

Baileys Pastry

225g plain flour

100g butter

25g caster sugar

90-100ml Baileys

1 x jar of Mincemeat.

You know by now I make pastry in the food processor – it’s a toss up between it getting made quicker and in washing up the processor bow (*cough* making room in the dishwasher). If you like making by hand then be my guest!

Add the flour to the bowl of the processor. Add the butter and pulse until the butter is rubbed in and the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Add in the caster sugar and pulse to mix.

Now measure out the Baileys – its Christmas after all so a quick tipple for you wouldn’t go amiss!

If you don’t want to give up all your Baileys to the pies you could mix it half and half with water (but not for drinking obviously – that’s sacrilege)

With the processor running start to add the Baileys through the chute until the pastry comes together. The pastry should be a lovely toffee colour and will smell divine!

Gather together the pastry and knead lightly into a ball.

Wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for half an hour.

Once the pastry has rested preheat the oven to 180c (fan)/200c/Gas Mark 5.

Grease the recesses of a shallow bun tin.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface, fairly thinly, resisting the urge to munch a piece as you go.

Using a round cutter cut out enough circles to line the bases of the pies. Set onto the tin and press down gently to shape.

Fill each pie with mincemeat.

Re-roll the pastry trimmings if necessary and cut out lids for the mince pies using a slightly smaller round cutter.

With a wet finger dampen the edge of the base pieces of pastry and place the tops in position.

Gently seal together the edges using your fingers.

For a nifty crimped edge take a cutlery spoon and using the wrong end press it across ways towards you fingers as shown in the picture. Repeat all the way around the top of the pie.

Sometimes when I need to use both hands and take a photo I have to rope in my husband – he’s useless with a camera, drives me to distraction and everything takes an age – this is what he drives me too – I’m not adding the photo to the post, you’ll see why (don’t worry it’s not rude), click on the link. He was being an idiot and I pulled this face at him!

Inspired! What could be better? Will give these a try. I make my pastry the same way as you, I tried substituting icing sugar for caster last time and though it tasted lovely it was just too sticky to roll out without sheets of parchment either side, so it’s back to caster sugar now!

oh wow, this is genius… i’ve made my own mincemeat this year and I’ve been scouting around for some pastry to go with it and I think I have a winner!… I made some last year and got over-creative with the pastry which came out like rubber so I am nervous… i’m sure these will be wonderful x

That looks like a lovely recipe…and will try it as it will go down a storm here…but the photo!!! LOL
Just reminds me of my hubby, takes far too long taking a picture…the smiles worn off by the time he clicks! x

Hi Ruth, Can I bother you with yet another question from overseas? I’m excecuting quite a few of your recipes now, still busy feeding the big christmas cake. Can’t wait how it turns out. Now, these pies sound delicious, I’m a big fan of Baileys!, but these kind of pies are an unknown phenomen overhere. So, no chance of picking up a jar of mincemeat. I did find a recipe at Delia online but is sounds quite a job getting it done yourself. Is there an alternative stuffing you would use with kind of pies? All the best and thanks for the inspiring posts! Mieke from Holland

Of course, that’s what I’m here for! Instead of Mincemeat make up some Boozy Fruit http://www.thepinkwhisk.co.uk/2011/09/boozy-fruit-for-your-christmas-cake.html – as in the first step of the christmas cake but instead of the stick of cinnamon add 2 tsps of ground cinnamon and use this mixture instead – hope that helps, you might want to decrease the quantities by half otherwise you’ll be making mince pies forever! x

When you were talking about the eggwash, you said you used a spray… can I ask what spray this is? The pies in your photos have a beautiful sheen and I’m loathe to sacrifice eggs for a glaze and normally use milk (which doesn’t do so well but is much cheaper!)

I’m definitely making these tomorrow, was going to do them today, but got a bit waylaid doing a tidy up!! I usually make my pastry using an unconventional method, will send it to you if you’re interested, but this one is too tempting not to try. As for the picture, mmmmm not a good look lol we all have pics like that somewhere x

My mouth is watering just reading the recipe. Baileys is just my favourite tipple and this is a match made in heaven. Going to try this today and surprise my good friend with whom I often share a baileys or 2!!!!!!!!1

Hi Ruth these are amazing! Just made a batch of mini ones with my daughter and how we managed not to eat all the pastry raw I do not know! She will sleep well tonight … and by the way the smell from the oven was divine! Thanks.

Thanks Ruth, these are just about to come out of the oven, they are smelling divine. I used Baileys Biscotti which has just been released on the market here. What an easy recipe! This is a trial batch for hubby and I and another batch will be made for Christmas Day!
Love your site and recipes.

Baileys in pastry, what a wonderful idea! I’m going to make some for my Christmas party tomorrow. My only slight concern is the amount of liquid – adding 100ml of fluid seems like an awful lot for a dozen pies, but I trust you!

My mince pies were vegan this year, but nonetheless tasty for it. I made my ownmincemeat as well, which helped. I added some brandy and extra nuts to the mincemeat before baking. I never thought about Baileys, but I will be giving this pastry a go for sure